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John Salusbury
Sir John Salusbury (1567 - 24 July 1612) was a Welsh poet, knight, and politician of the Elizabethan era. He is notable for his opposition to the faction of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex and for his patronage of complex acrostic and allegorical poetry that anticipated the Metaphysical movement. Life Salusbury was a member of the Salusbury family of Lleweni in the Vale of Clywd, Denbighshire, where they owned a considerable estate, including Lleweni Hall. He was the son of Sir John Salusbury (died 1566) and Katheryn of Berain, and the younger brother of Thomas Salusbury (who was executed in 1586 for his involvement in the Babington Plot against Elizabeth I). He was educated at Jesus College, Oxford, where he matriculated in 1581 aged 14. After his brother's death, he succeeded to the estates, but the family's lands were severely reduced due to the loss of crown leases. It took his several years to restore them. Salusbury married Ursula Stanley, the illegitimate daughter of Henry Stanley, 4th Earl of Derby and Jane Halsall, in 1586. Their earliest child, Jane, was born a year later. The couple went on to have 10 children, of which 6 (4 girls and 2 boys) survived to adulthood. Salusbury studied law at the Middle Temple from March 1595. Elizabeth appointed him as squire of the body in the same year. Salusbury became noted for his "ostentatious loyalty" to the queen, in contrast to other members of his family, who were associated with Catholic sympathies and plots against her. Salusbury was a staunch Protestant, writing to the queen's minister, Robert Cecil denouncing recusants. He was also an opponent of the Earl of Essex, with whose supporters he came into conflict in local politics. He almost killed his cousin Owen, an Essex supporter, in a sword fight in 1593. Owen was already being treated with suspicion as a potential rebel, so the duel did Salusbury no harm. The 5th Earl of Derby, his wife's brother, wrote to congratulate him for beating "that bad fellow of your name", saying that the event would be to the "advancement of your credit".Salusbury, Sir John, 1565-1612, History of Parliament Online, 1558-1603. Web. After the Essex Rebellion in 1601, Salusbury was knighted for his support in suppressing it. His cousins Owen and John were implicated in the rebellion, Owen being killed in the fighting. These conflicts led to the "Wrexham riot" in October 1601, during an election to parliament, in which Salusbury's supporters engaged in violent clashes with the surviving Essex supporters led by Sir Richard Trevor. Salusbury complained to the queen about intimidation. After a recount, he was declared the winner of the election.James P. Bednarz, Shakespeare and the Truth of Love: The Mystery of "The Phoenix and Turtle", p.66. He became MP for Denbighshire in December 1601, but only took his seat for a few days before parliament was dissolved. After Elizabeth's death, Essex's surviving supporters returned to favour at the court of her successor James I. Thereafter, Salusbury spent little time in London, with his enemies attempting to discredit him at court. He died on 24 July 1612. His son, Henry Salusbury, succeeded him. Henry became the 1st of the Salusbury Baronets in 1619. Writing Salusbury was a poet and patron of literature. Several works were dedicated to him. In 1595 Henry Perry dedicated his book of Welsh grammar Egluryn Ffraethineb to Salusbury. Sinetes Passions (1597) a collection of verse by Robert Parry, was also dedicated to Salusbury. The most important work linked to Salusbury is Robert Chester's epic allegorical poem Love's Martyr, which is dedicated to both Sir John and his wife Ursula. Both Parry and Chester seem to have been local Denbighshire writers who formed part of Salusbury's own circle. Salusbury's own poetry may have been published in Parry's collection in the section entitled the "patron's pathetical posies", though this has been disputed.G. Blakemore Evans, The Poems of Robert Parry, Tempe, Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2005, pp.10–22. These include a complex symbolic poem addressed to his sister. Other sonnets and love lyrics of his exist in manuscripts. Chester was probably Salusbury's chaplain or secretary. His long and extremely obscure allegory about a phoenix and turtledove has led to several conflicting interpretations. The most common are that it symbolises either the love of John and Ursula, or alternatively the idealised relationship between Sir John and Queen Elizabeth.John Klause, "The Phoenix and the Turtle in its Time", in Gwynne Blakemore Evans (ed), In the Company of Shakespeare: Essays on English Renaissance Literature, Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 2002, p.206-227. Chester's poem contains a series of "Cantos" at the end of the allegory. William Empson argues that the "Cantos" are by Salusbury, as they are similar in style to those appended to Robert Parry's book, displaying Salusbury's "very recognisable facility and ingenuity".William Empson, Essays on Shakespeare, Cambridge University Press, 1986, p27. E.A.J. Honigmann argues that Salusbury had a fascination with "mystical verse" which contained obscure acrostic puzzles, and that his patronage explains the unique metaphysical symbolism of Parry's, Chester's and his own verse.E.A.J. Honigmann, Shakespeare: The Lost Years, Manchester University Press, 1998, p.93 Salusbury was also a friend and supporter of Ben Jonson, and may have been the person responsible for organising a group of important poets to contribute verses to supplement Chester's poem. Among these were Jonson himself, John Marston, George Chapman, and William Shakespeare, who contributed The Phoenix and the Turtle.Another possibility is that Marston was the person who brought the others together. Cathcart, Charles, Marston, Rivalry, Rapprochement, and Jonson, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2008, p.20. These poems share the imagery of Love's Martyr and Salusbury's typical elusive and complex allegorising. Recognition Salusbury was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1601.Sir John Salusbury (1567-1612), English Poetry, 1579-1830, Center for Applied Technologies in the Humanities, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University. Web, Nov. 6, 2016. Publications *''The Patrone His Pathetical Posies''. London: William Holme, 1597.Bibliography, "Poesie XII. The Authors Muse upon his Conceyte," English Poetry, 1579-1830, Center for Applied Technologies in the Humanities, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University. Web, Nov. 6, 2016. *''Poems, by Sir John Salusbury and Robert Chester'' (edited by Carleton Brown). London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, for the Early English Text Society, 1914.Search results = au:John Salusbury, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Nov. 6, 2016. See also *Anglo-Welsh poets *List of British poets References External links ;Poems *"Poesie XII. The Authors Muse upon his Conceyte" *"Sonneto 7 ('Marching in the plaine field of my conceyte')." ;About *Sir John Salusbury(1567-1612) in English Poetry, 1579-1830 *Salusbury, Sir John, 1565-1612, History of Parliament Online, 1558-1603 Category:1567 births Category:1612 deaths Category:Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford Category:Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for constituencies in Wales Category:Welsh politicians Category:Welsh poets Category:Welsh knights Category:16th-century Welsh people Category:17th-century Welsh people Category:16th-century Welsh poets Category:17th-century Welsh poets Category:People of the Tudor period Category:Salusbury family Category:English MPs 1601 Category:Anglo-Welsh poets Category:16th-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets